First published in Media, Inc.
Fall 2002

Call For Entries. This phrase can elicit excitement, dread and panic in designers. It is exciting to think that
your work could win an award and be flashed on a big screen while rousing music plays, just barely audible
over the applause and howls from your peers and design idols. It is also scary to step into the ring of
competition–to be judged by these same peers and people you admire. This fear leads to procrastination
and results in pasting-up entries the night before submission deadline. Even then you are still not sure if it’s
good enough.

Are design competitions worth the effort? Why should you pay money for someone to pass judgment on
your work? Are you doing it purely for the ego stroke?

An informal survey taken at the most recent Rosey Awards revealed that most designers found some value
in competitions. The majority of those surveyed did respect competitions, especially when the judges were
highly regarded.

From a public relations standpoint design competitions are definitely worth it. Newspapers and magazines
love contests. Pictures of smiling winners and slick, winning designs are published because it conveys
positive news (and maybe those big, happy firms will buy a big, expensive ad). It helps balance the doom
and gloom news they report, especially since a down economy and high unemployment rates dominate the
headlines.

Awards may also elevate your status in the eyes of potential clients. Companies may award you a project
because you have been recognized by your peers as having created excellent work. Also, it is likely you’ll
enter and possibly win competitions with their project, which is good publicity for them.

Competitions also benefit the design profession. Awards give exposure to work that is new and exciting. If
the judges have done their job, award-winning work effectively communicates its message and is
appropriate for its purpose. Award-winning design sets a standard to work towards and demonstrates
uncommon solutions to common communication problems. Awards can also expose trends that designers
may want to evolve or avoid altogether.

There are some improvements design competitions could make in order to increase participation and make
designers’ efforts more worthwhile. A short critique of every entry, not just the winners, would greatly benefit
designers and help them improve their skills. The high cost of entry to competitions should entitle designers
some response to their work.

The cost of entry, sometimes $100 or more per entry, may be a barrier to a freelancer or sole proprietor,
whose work may be just as deserving as a large firm with deeper pockets. Organizations such as the
American Institute of Graphic Arts and Graphic Artists Guild should consider setting up a competition fund to
help worthy individuals and students. Competition organizers could develop a freelance division with a
reduced entry fee and possibility of being named best among freelancers.

Designers play a crucial role in shaping culture and the economy. They create what we see and hear. They
influence how we speak and what we buy. They create the artifacts we collect.

Bad design radically changed the course of the last presidential election. Good design mostly goes
unnoticed. Graphic artists should be encouraged to participate in competitions to help foster better design
and better publicize their profession.